Runaway Train
by Darmed
Summary: The two of them met in an unhappy place, yet both of them left smiling like they never had before. -Because her birthday is closest and I wanted to dedicate it some someone, this is for you, Mick!


**Runaway Train**

_I can go where no one else can go  
I know what no one else knows  
Here I am just drowning' in the rain  
With a ticket for a runaway train_

_~Soul Asylum – Runaway Train_

He shook his head feverishly to shake his wet bangs out of his eyes. It had started raining more than an hour ago and had not stopped until he had finally arrived on the right platform. Around him sat several mothers, crying while softly cradling a baby in their hands, children, seemingly all way too young to travel alone and people who simply walked past them, not paying any attention to the blankly staring and desperately crying faces. Allen looked up at the slowly clearing sky until the sun started breaking through and he had to avert his eyes and blink, seeing green and orange spots in between the running businessmen.

He hated this world. He hated how people continued living their everyday lives while those of others fell apart, shattering into a million little shards. If one of those people would accidentally step on one of the shards, they would wince and try to get it out of their feet. They would continue until they could throw that little piece of hope away and once again continue with their own, normal and happy lives. How he hated people.

He did not know what train he would take, nor where he would go. He did not care. All he knew was that he would go away as far as possible, as soon as possible. He would leave every single memory of how his life used to be, hoping he would be able to create new memories. _Better memories_.

He did not look up when a mother uttered a desperate cry and started wailing to her heart's contents when her four year-old daughter collapsed in the middle of the path from illness, the waiting for money to be able to afford a train ticket while having no roof above her head being too much for her frail, young body after several days of stormy weather.

Allen had heard that heartbroken cry far too much, and he understood what that cry meant more than he actually wanted to. Once, he had cried similarly on those exact same tiles, wishing for what had happened to not be true, wishing that the only man who had ever loved and taken care of him would just stand up again and smile with shining eyes just like he had done so many times before. But he did _not _open his eyes. He did not laugh or smile, nor did he put a reassuring hand on his shoulder and whispered soft words to him, saying it had all been meant as a joke. He did not do _anything_.

Allen blinked away the tears that started to form in his eyes, so that they leaked down, waiting for a hand to wipe away the wet streaks tainting his cheeks, but knowing that hand would never again come. He raised his head, trying not to look at the mother who now sat on her knees, sobbing and muttering prayers while cradling the body of her deceased daughter, and fixed his eyes on the rail he knew a train would be upon in a little less than fifteen minutes.

His feet started to hurt, finally getting tired of being used continuously, but he knew all benches that were even able to hold people were being occupied by businessmen and women who were obviously not going to give their seat to a sick, pregnant woman, much less to a tired fifteen year-old.

"You can sit on my coat, if you want to."

The strange proposal made him turn around, not seeing anyone even sparing him a glance, until he felt someone tugging the hem of his pants. He looked down to see a brightly smiling boy sitting on a large, black coat, probably a few years older than him, red hair poking out from a green headband. His one eye wrinkled when his smile became even broader.

"Y'know, there's more than enough room, and it's all soft and fuzzy."

Allen blinked and then nodded before sitting down next to the strange redhead.

"So," the boy started, turning around to look at his face, "What're you doing here?"

Allen eyed him wearily. "Waiting for my train."

The boy rolled his eye. "Well, _duh_," he retorted. "I meant..." He sighed and tried to re-phrase his question. "Where did you want to go?"

When Allen gave him a questioning glance, the other quickly added, "I mean, everybody's here for a purpose, right?" He smirked.

Allen merely shrugged. "I don't know yet." He sighed. "Just...away."

The boy gave him a weird glance. "You didn't-" He quickly cut off his sentence and smiled, offering the white-haired boy his hand. "Never mind. I'm Lavi."

Allen thought it was only common courtesy to add his last name when introducing himself, but that was also part of the past he planned to shed. "Allen," he stated curtly, shaking Lavi's hand, who smiled even broader at the gesture.

As they nearly got ran over by a random dog, Lavi shifted and pulled up his knees, wrapping his arms around them. "I ran away, y'know."

At Allen's incredulous look, he went on. "From home. I left it this morning." He nodded in agreement with himself.

Allen looked a bit shell-shocked before he finally gave in. "Me too." It was said so softly that other people could've thought it was just the soft sound of the summer wind. Lavi barely heard it, but it made him smile anyway. "Now we can run away together!"

Allen blinked. He had known Lavi for less than five minutes, and the boy already offered to join him in the most important journey of his life...and he noticed he would not mind his company all that much. Not at all, actually. For the first time this entire day, this entire week, this entire year, Allen felt himself smile. He smiled so broadly his teeth were clearly visible and the skin under his eyes wrinkled. "Sure!"

He was sure his day wouldn't turn out to be all that bad, now that there was someone with him.

Lavi started. He began speaking about how he was taken in by someone who apparently had always been named 'Bookman', after being left by his parents. He spoke about how he was raised in a dark house with only one large window, a house he had hated so much and had to study every hour of the day. How he eventually loathed every sentence he was forced to read, because the books would never have a happy ending. About how every boy or girl that had seen him sit in front of the huge window he was not actually permitted to be near, staring at the outside world he had wanted to be in so much, had wanted to ask him to come outside with them and play with the new football their parents had bought them but was chased away by an angry Bookman appearing at the front door, eventually dragging him out of the windowsill. about how all of this lasted until he turned eighteen. About how he simply ran out of the door he had never dared to touch or even come near and did not look back until he arrived blindly on this station, not checking if Bookman had even tried to go after him.

"He never just cared, y'know?" Lavi smiled, though the sadness in his eyes was clearly visible and betrayed the image. He quickly tried to go back to his usual smiling, laid back manner. "So, what's your story?"

Allen shrugged. It did not matter right now, really. His reasons seemed so small compared to the ones of the people around him. Teenage mothers, abused children... it was all far worse.

"It's just..." Allen sighed. "It's nothing."

Lavi tried to feign anger and irritation, but failed miserably since he genuinely smiled like crazy. "You're not getting out of it so easily!"

Allen rubbed the back of his head and laughed. "I guess I...just..."

Allen shrugged and spoke, starting with how Mana, a Pierrot, had taken him in and how he and Mana traveled alongside each other for years. He sobbed when he spoke about Mana's unexpected and sudden death, but didn't stop speaking and regained his composure a bit when he spoke about how he was one again taken in, this time by the well-known town's flirt, Cross Marian, after the blatant alcoholic found out that you could easily blame kids for your debts in this neighborhood and that taking Allen around town actually attracted women more than when by himself.

He shot Lavi a half-hearted glare when he sniggered. When he continued, he spoke about how he had to work to be able to pay Cross his bills, while the older man kept on making debts faster than he could pay them, and how that did not give him enough money to be able to, making him resort to gambling. How he had risked his life more than ones when spending time with the poor drunks, cheating his way out of every single game and collecting every single penny the men owned. How all of this lasted until he was simply sick of it, turned around, grabbed the money he had yet to give to his guardian and ran.

"Hey, I'm sure I'd be able to pay your ticket also!"

Lavi said nothing. His hand still touched Allen's shoulder from where he had comforted him and wiped away the tears streaming down his face, which seemed to make the boyhappy and more sad at the same time. After he had stopped crying, Lavi had simply kept his arm where it was, the thought of removing it not once crossing his mind.

They understood each other. They knew they could both manage as long as they were alongside each other.

They sat in comfortable silence until the heard the screeching of a train on rails. Looking up, they found it to be one exactly fitting their terms, - it went somewhere very far, very fast - not noticing they had spent already an hour in each other's company, their mouths dry from the continuous talking.

Lavi stood up and took Allen's hand to pull him along, smiling as the boy stumbled over his own feet. They simply left the coat lying on the floor and walked towards their refuge, Allen stopping briefly to buy both of their tickets. They did not stop walking until they finally found empty seats and sat down with a sigh. When the train started moving, Lavi looked out of the window happily, Allen being fast asleep with his head on the other's left shoulder and holding the boy's hand as if he would never even think about letting go.

They were starting their new lifes, and they were doing it together.


End file.
